The “One Glass Too Many” Cake

I think many of us can relate to having one too many glasses of wine. For me, it’s usually a pounding heading headache that let’s me know I’ve overindulged.

This cake is a homage to red wine, and to those of us who may love wine a bit too much 😛

I made it for my friend Stephanie, who loves red wine, and who actually came up with the idea for this cake!! I believe it went something like, “can you make a cake that looks like it has a glass of wine spilling all over it?”

This cake is made with my go to vanilla layer cake recipe, and the “red wine” is made using my colorful white chocolate drip recipe.

My main tip for this cake is to use a large, light- weight wine glass, to ensure that the frosting can hold it in place.

I found these epic wine glasses at CB2 for $5, but most home goods stores sell relatively inexpensive individual wine glasses too.

The full tutorial and recipe for this cake can be seen below:

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Begin by preparing the white chocolate ganache, as it will need to cool down before it can be drizzled on the cake.

Heat heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds-1 minute, until bubbling.

Gently pour white chocolate chips into the heavy cream, making sure they are fully covered with cream.

Allow mixture to sit for 2 minutes. Stir slowly until mixture is fully incorporated, then add in a few drops of gel food coloring.

Stir until fully combined. Then add A SINGLE tiny drop of black food coloring, to make a deep red. Be VERY CAREFUL with this step, as one extra drop of black will ruin the color or the ganache!

Remember that you can always add more, but you can’t go back once you’ve added coloring!!

Allow the ganache to cool until desired viscosity is reached. If there are still some bits of chocolate that aren’t melted, you can pour the ganache through a sieve to remove them from the mixture.

If it seems to thin or thick, you can add a touch more chocolate chips or heavy cream! The type of cream and white chocolate that you use can affect the consistency, so feel free to adjust as needed.

I like to put my ganache into plastic squirt bottles when decorating cakes! But you can also use a spoon to drizzle it over cakes. Leave ganache out to cool to room temperature.

Next, begin to make the cake batter. Grease and line four 7” round pans.

Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined.

Mix chunks of butter slowly into the dry mix on a low speed. Continue to mix until no chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly.

In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients (vanilla extract, egg whites, buttermilk, and vegetable oil), and whisk to combine.

On low speed, add 1/3 of the liquid ingredients to the dry/butter mixture. Mix until fully incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Mix in the remaining wet ingredients in two installments, on a medium-high speed until fully incorporated.

Divide the batter in half, and color half of it red, with gel food coloring. Then alternate scoops of white and red cake batter, until all four pans are filled.

Take a butter knife, and run it through the pans to swirl together the colors. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then run an offset spatula around perimeter of the pan to separate the cake from the pan. Place cake layers on a rack to finish cooling.

While the cakes bake and cool, prepare the vanilla buttercream frosting (click here for tutorial).

Whip the butter until it is light and creamy, then slowly add the powdered sugar.

Alternate installments of powdered sugar with heavy cream, and continue mixing until the frosting has reached desired consistency.

Add salt and vanilla, and continue mixing until fully incorporated.

Assembly the cake layers, apply and even layer of buttercream between each layer.

Apply a crumb coat, and place the cake in fridge for 20 minutes to allow the frosting to cool and firm.

Then apply another layer for frosting, and smooth with a cake bench.

Create a mountain of frosting on the cake with additional frosting, and firmly press glass into the base of the frosting mound.

Smooth frosting into the glass, to make it look like the glass is full of red wine that is spilling out.

Pour ganache over the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread some on top of the frosting in the glass.

Like this:

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Published by Chelsweets

I work in finance during day, and like to think of myself as a baker by night! Follow me here at Chelsweets.com, on instagram @chelsweets, and on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/c/ChelsweetsBakery ) to see my creations :D
View all posts by Chelsweets

Made this cake yesterday for someone’s birthday…it was a hit. Cake was really good. Any way to make this cake in chocolate? Thinking maybe reduce the flour by a cup and add cocoa and a little strong coffee. Any suggestions?
Thank you for the great recipe!!

Hi – A few questions. 1) It says 4 sticks of butter for the frosting. Is that 4 – 1/4 cup sticks or 4 – 1/2 cup sticks? 2) Do you think I can make the buttercream frosting the night before and then take out a few hours before frosting? And 3) Is this a double recipe? I always feel like I run out of frosting. Thank you!

I just made this cake for a friend’s birthday, so I’m not quite sure! If you are worried about using glass, you can definitely use a plastic cup! I’ve never placed a bottle or can into a cake, so i’m not sure.

Love the idea, made it today and it worked out great. I found a piping bag easier to fill the ganache inside the glass as it was more flexible than the squeeze bottle. I wasn’t as brave as you to use a real glass, substituted a plastic wine glass instead. Thanks again for the tutorial,

I watched the youtube clip and it seems the buttercream recipe was doubled for decorating? Is the recipe listed a single or double batch of icing? Also, I only have 9 inch rounds. Can I make 3 9 in rounds with this recipe?

Hi! I love the idea of this cake and I can’t wait to try it out!
However I live in a small apartment and my freezer is not tall enough to put the cake in with the wine glass.
Is it possible to put it in the fridge instead for but for a longer period of time?

Definitely! I do it all the time, just pop it in the fridge, and reheat it in 10 second intervals until its fluid again! Be sure not to overheat it though, or else your drips will be too thin / runny <3